Saving Money or Looking Funny?

Dave has wanted me to cut his hair for a long time. I have always put it off and said the $7 was worth it, but slowly that price has increased. He paid $10 for his last cut! For a man’s hair cut that's a lot, especially when it's wham bam get out of my chair and pay. And when you're on a military base you never have a shortage of customers, these guys cut their hair every 2 weeks!

As I was Christmas shopping this year I walked down the male grooming isle and fell victim. I looked over them all carefully inspecting every one. I have no idea what I need and don't need in a hair trimmer so I cautiously bought the mid grade model. When Dave opened it he was excited at the thought of saving ALL this money and I felt sick thinking of how I was actually going to pull this "Hair Dresser" title off.

Well I managed to keep him at bay until last week. We put Ava to bed and he pulled out the buzzer. I set it up in the kitchen and he told me what he wanted, 0.5 on the bottom then tapper it up. "Sure" I thought, "right" I'll do my best. WOW is 0.5 SHORT! He asked me to take it up to his ear and he looked like a bald man with a toupee. I was so scared the entire time and in the end I thought it looked amateur, but Dave thought it was a good first try. He said his mom would be proud of me. He doesn't look stupid so I guess I'll have another shot in 2 weeks.

Those red dots on his neck, yup those are from me trying to clean up his stray hairs. The one thing I didn't expect was the ridiculously loud, nuclear humming noise that came out of that small hand held buzzer. I felt bad for Dave; he had it right beside his ear. He said that next time he is going to put in earplugs! Why do they make a hair trimmer so LOUD, it's silly.

This is Ava's hair the very next morning! I thought it was such cute bed head that I took a picture. She has grown so much hair these past 6 months. At one point I thought she would never grow enough for a pony tail and now she loves to have "2 ponies, please Mama."

Are we getting older or smarter?

So we really needed another vehicle, Dave and I have shared the truck for almost 5 years! I really wanted to get a mini van because I knew that another baby would eventually be added and you just can't beat it's spacious interior and seating for 7. Sure a van might visually age you but honestly if you talk to any mother who owns one they will sing its praises. We took the van to Germany to pick up Jessie and it was hands down the BEST trip we have ever driven. Ava sat in her seat and watched DVD after DVD as I handed her grapes, juice, and crackers, all from the cooler placed on top of our stow and go seats!

We found this van on Lakenheathyardsales a few hours after pricing out a brand new one from the dealership on base. I absolutely LOVED the new vans, everything about the 2010 vans are way, way cool. The sliding door windows roll down! There is a screen that show whats behind you when your backing up! But the 30,000.00 price tag was just too much compaired to this 2006 used van.

It's exciting to know I can get up and go whenever I want, and there is only a tiny bit of parental guilt knowing Ava can't wait to watch "Tinkerbell" when we are only driving a short distance.

YEAH We have internet at the house!

It's been 2 months since we moved in and we finally got our internet connected and running smooth. Technically we have all of our utilities hooked up and working but you never know, we have had multiple issues with the phone, tv, water meter and now something is up with the gas meter. For a 3 year old house, I thought it would be almost issue free.

It's been exciting to have all the pleasures of a home phone and internet. I have to keep myself from browsing the on line isles of Old Navy, Target, and JCPenny, we have no room for anything new. We tried to work out a deal with the Letting Agency to get us out of our contract by promising to rent a bigger, better house from the same landlord but unfortunately he has only one left and it's out of our price range. I guess sometimes you just have to LIVE with your mistakes and LEARN from them.

We made the long drive back to Germany this past weekend to pick up Jessie. She had to finish out her 6 month quarantine before we could bring her across the border. She had to have a special micro chip that was a legal for the UK and we had to have the boarder scan it. At first we were told we had to rent a scanner and bring it with us to the border, then we were told that the border had some already so now we weren't sure who to trust. In the end there was no problem with her chip or the scanner but that the Kaiserslautern Vet clinic forgot to sign a page in Jessie's passport and she was denied entry. We had to find a Vet in France and pay 50 Euro to have him sign one piece of paper. Jessie is back with us now but I think she misses her dog friends.

We bought a 2006 mini van and have loved having an extra vehicle. There's not as much guilt on Dave when they suddenly put him on 12 hour shifts, or when he doesn't really have enough time to come home during his lunch hour but he sacrifices eating just so I have a afternoon out of the house. We drove it to Germany and it was such a blessing to have more room and a DVD player for Ava. We didn't even stop after leaving to ferry, I made PPJ sandwiches in the back from the cooler which had plenty of room thanks to the stow and go seating. Mini Vans are where it's at!

Sometimes you think your own kid is TOO CUTE!

We have been up to some pretty cute things. Ava absolutely loves to put on the Mr Potato Head mustache and Mama has to wear it too. Dave can't fit it in his nose so he has a free pass.

This was one day at church. She knew she was beautiful and she defiantly acted like a princess.

The two ponies thing is finally working out. She lets me do her hair if I let her put on her "lips" That means she gets to put on chap stick.

We found a huge craft store called Hobby Craft, It's like a Michaels store. It was so exciting to be around crafting supplies. Ava followed me around and wanted to roll the shopping cart. Like mother like daughter. Excellent!

This is the face of Christmas Magic

On Christmas Eve, I was walking around the house srtaightening things up before we had our Chinese take out supper. As I walked around I said "HO HO HO Merry Chirstmas!" Suddendly I hear Ava repeating me, so I quickly grabbed the camera and recorded this:

This is one happy little girl. Now I just wish it was warmer outside so we could have a little more outdoor play time. I think she was overwhelmed with all of the fun things she got. She has been playing with limited toys for a long time. Her world just got a whole lot more exciting!

Things We've been doing

These are a few of the things we've been up too lately.

We have taken our 2009 Christmas Photo. Those of you who are getting a picture in a Christmas card I apologize for the fuzziness. It was not until after I started printing out the 38 photos that I realized the "too much zoom" issue.

Decorated our first fireplace. It's weak and a little cheesy but it's still our first!

Bought and decorated David's first FAKE Christmas tree. I love fake trees, you can make them into whatever shape you like. This year because of our small living room we have chosen the "half put together" look, so that it fits tightly against the patio doors.

I made Cinnamon Ornaments. These are really fun and easy to make, and they give awesome smell to a fake tree.

We have worn our Christmas Dress from Grandma Miller. Isn't she gorgeous!

Played in the snow. I'll tell you what, the British people (at least where I live) do not know how to drive in snow, they do not know how to brush off their car, and they sure don't know how to shovel their walkways.

We have tried on fun hats, and made Big Cheeser smiles.

Made our first Fort in the living room. Ava has started to pull off all the couch pillows and so I decided it was time to make something fun out of the mess. She thought it was perfect.

Something is Missing

There’s just something missing, it’s a sense of belonging. Sure our ward is great and friendly but that just it, there’re friendly “church members.” We haven’t been invited over for dinner or asked to hang out and enjoy an evening of games. Our ward is only a couple of steps up from a Branch so you would think that a new family would be flooded with love. I normally would be the first to invite people over but honesty our house isn’t organized and there isn’t much room. I have a calling to teach Gospel Principals but this Sunday was my first official day and no one showed up except the missionaries and my husband (thanks for your support sweets.) My last fast Sunday in Germany I prayed that I would get the feeling of “completion.” The entire PCS had been quick and hard. I don’t think I prepared enough and I had major YW President duties that kept me busy right up until our last week. My best friends were leaving at the same time we were and I knew Germany wouldn’t be the same without them.

Now the novelty of England is starting to wear off and reality of small living has been hammered in. If I could choose a new PCS season for the Miller Family it would definitely not be during the 2 most family orientated holidays of the year! When we first arrived in Germany (Nov 05) we were still newlyweds and very much into each other, I didn’t need friends I had a best friend/husband to share everything with. Now almost 5 years later I still have a husband /best friend but I also need a little girl time on the side. When I married Dave I left my best friends in Canada (Chantel and Kristy) and had gained Larkin in Delaware. I left Larkin and quickly added Lori and Jennifer in Germany. When they both moved away I found Suzy, Holly and Liz. Now I’m waiting to meet my “New Best Friend.” You might be thinking I just need to give it more time and I do, I know that but I still want one right now!

As our families get close to each other this holiday season its hard not to want to celebrate with them. Our plan was to spend Christmas with the Millers if we got stationed in the USA. Then a surprise invitation came from the Robison’s to join them for a Canadian Christmas but we couldn’t give an answer since Dave’s in-processing wasn’t over and he didn’t want to jeopardize anything. The salt in this wound is that a couple of days ago Dave came home and said a trip to Canada might be very doable, and we immediately began looking for the “deal” my mom had found a few weeks earlier. Unfortunately it was gone!

We have come to the agreement that moving when our contract is finished is what we have to do if we want to add another baby to our family. I’m ok with that. Do it Yourself Moves are hard but It will be worth it, when I have room to set up a baby swing and still play on the floor with Ava. As of right now I don’t care if we stay within our ward boundaries I feel no loyalty to them as of yet, but we’ll see in a year.

I know I am greatly loved and blessed by my Heavenly Father. I have so much to be thankful for and I really am thankful for my good life and neat experiences. People have dreamed about living my life and never get to but sometimes it’s the smaller things in life that can make you feel like something’s missing.